HACK. A hack, to hack, hacking, hacked, hacker, hacks, hack's ... there are other meanings and uses for the word but, in the case of the coffee mug in the photo above, it was the name of an eatery in Bethlehem, PA which I don't believe exists any longer - at least not at it's former location.

Places are like that. They can close up shop and move. Sometimes you have advance notice that they're closing, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you know where they went if they went, sometimes you don't. Usually, especially if you liked the place a lot, you'd like to know where they went and if you can't go there like you used to, it can be upsetting.

Sometimes a lot.

The coffee mug in the picture above was my Dad's. I was considering taking it to work to become 'my coffee mug' but, considering my history with coffee mugs at the various places in which I've worked (I usually lose them or break them), I'm thinking that a good place for it is on my desk at home ... by my computer keyboard ... where I'm a hack. Where I hack. Where I've been hacked. Now there's an appropriate coffee mug with me when I'm there to remind and motivate me that there is usually more than one way to look at something, whether it's straight on and wearing blinders so you're not distracted, or from afar so you can see what's around it and what may be affecting its condition or its behavior, or whether you look at it like this:

This is how people look at me when they think I'm not watching them. :)

I spend a lot of time at this spot. Here at my desk. The spot where my Hack's mug now resides. My time here is usually spent reflecting on one thing or another, reading, riting, researching, plotting and planning, carrying out strategic preemptive strikes and other stuff like that. Another important part of having a good spot like this is the ability to also be able to listen to your favorite music. Speakers, headphones, earbuds, 33s, 45s, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs, MP3s, whatever. It's important to always have your favorite music somewhere where you can get at it. You don't have to have it connected to your head all the time ... you will miss a lot of the world or get hit by a truck if you walk around with ear-things on your head listening to your music nobody else likes.

But it's good to listen to your favorite music when you want to. And when you need to.

Worthy of note is that, here at my spot lately, I've foregoing the keyboard somewhat for the written word. In cursive. Journaling. And I've converted to using fountain pens for this purpose - for journaling. Suddenly I'm picturing that development as if I've been transformed into a vampire, why is that? Seriously, the way fountain pens look and work and feel in your hand when you write; the way you don't have to apply pressure when you write ... and the way the handwritten word looks on a page is somehow more gratifying (if that's the word I'm looking for) than if I just banged everything out on this keyboard. See? If gratifying wasn't the word I was looking for, I'd have had to cross it out or lined it out, but I didn't. I *should* have deleted it, but I didn't do that because I knew I wanted to make this stupid point about one of the differences between handwriting with a fountain pen or using a freakin' keyboard.

Leuchtturm1917 "Some lines a day 5-year journal"

One of the journals which I am hacking through on a daily basis since recently is a Leuchtturm1917 "Some lines a day 5-year journal." (pictured above)

If you ever considered keeping a journal 'but don't like to write' or 'feel that you can't make the commitment,' this tome may be for you. It doesn't leave you much room to write more than a sentence or two on any given day, but it lets you do so for up to five years. There are 365 pages, each one dated and each one divided into five sections, one for each year.

Got an idea for a project? This is a good way to track it or force yourself to think about it every day.

Starting a diet?This is a good way to track your progress.

Starting a workout program?... get the idea?

***

I just thought I'd share all this info with you about my coffee mug, how people look at me funny, and one of the journals I write in. The real reason I'm banging away on this keyboard is because I should probably be sleeping, but I can't.

My Dad would have frowned upon talking about myself so much or about my stuff, but I thought this post was important -- and he also very much believed in being persistent and not giving up on something if you thought it was important; even to the point of not giving up when most people would think you probably should. He held out to the last second he could, my Dad. And he left while listening to some of his favorite music.

Leuchtturm1917 makes good stuff, I'll probably put a link in here somewhere one of these days, don't be surprised if you see that. It's not important. I just want to.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Lovely post. It is such a sweet thing that your dad left with his music on. Yes, that is commitment. And may we all get to exit with our music on.

I remember my dad using a fountain pen. He did some part-time work "keeping the books" (I don't know if anyone still calls it that) for a butcher shop. He'd write out checks with a fountain pen. I recently had this memory come up and thought I might like to use one.

I just can't decide if that would be a good idea with a lot of cats around.